Story - dying to be thin - aired on Phoenix TV
approx Dec 6 on the nightly news.
In this story, two Arizona residents, patients of Dr Juarez were interviewed.
They apparently were both quite ill from their gastric bypass surgery (although
both had lost about 100 lbs and were keeping it off (one was on a feeding tube
and the other couldn't eat much without vomiting) so ironically, statistically,
since weight is the only thing considered in judging whether the surgery was a
success or not, both these ladies statistically were considered WLS successes.

The following is a transcription of the videos which were up on AZ Republic (they took them down a while ago)

Delilah: "This is where my tube goes in, it comes in through my neck right here
and goes back into my intestines to feed me."

This is the side of gastric bypass which you don't see in commercials. It's not
glamourous, in fact it can be deadly.

Delilah: "I'm in bed a lot - have a bag.. always throwing up. In pain all the
time. My whole body is always in pain. Just life has stopped"

Actually it's come to a screaming halt for 34 year old El Mirage resident,
Delilah Nelson. Since the surgery, a year ago, she's had 16 corrective surgeries
and she still can't keep food down.

Reporter: "What happens if you try to eat a small meal?"

Delilah: "It's very painful going down. I could feel it digesting."

"It's hard" (says Delilah's mom) "because no mother wants to see her babies go
through anything like this."

REPORTER: "You were actually in the hospital on one occasion and they told you
to make your funeral arrangements, right?"

Delilah: "I was in the hospital for 18 days and they said I had a blood clot the
size of a silver dollar in one of my incisions and I was told not to move
because they were worried that the blood clot would move and kill me instantly."

One of her only comforts is her new friend Adrian. They met in the hospital both
undergoing corrective surgery for gastric bypass.

ADRIAN:"The surgery was a 'get thin' quick deal. I'll have surgery, I'll lose
weight, I'll be gorgeous. I never knew all this would happen."

Like Delilah, Adrian had a blocked intestine, couldn't eat and was in extreme
pain. For 6 months her family was worried she wouldn't make it.

ADRIAN: "I had to go through - I was very sick - I couldn't get out of the bed."

She lost weight alright, 100 lbs, but she was a walking skeleton. A year later,
she's weak but at least she's able to hold her precious grandson and she's back
to work. But...

ADRIAN: "I'm having problems at work because I can't concentrate and that's part
of malnourishment."

And the news from her family doctor isn't not good.

ADRIAN: "He said I would never been normal again"

Part II the doctor speaks out: transcript
of video

AZ residents, Delilah Nelson and Adrian Tyler are
among the 20 percent of patients who have complications from gastric bypass
surgery.

DELILAH: (crying) All the misery and all the
illness - what's going to happen to me?

The two met in Phoenix in ST Luke's hospital
while undergoing corrective surgery.

Dr Hilario Juarez performed the procedure on both
women.

DR JUAREZ: every time we do an operation there
are certain risks. This operation is specific and it's got these - these risks
that we talked about. The bleeding, the leaks and so there are -- there are
deaths that have occurred.

Three out of every 1000 patients die from
complications of gastric bypass. That's according to the American society for
Bariatric surgery. Delilah insists she was not told about the other life
threatening complications.

REPORTER: was it explained to her in a seminar
that these things could occur?

DR JUAREZ: Absolutely - we go through that - I
speak - seminar is approximately one hour and I spend at least 15-20 minutes
going over the complications.

Adrian went to the seminar before surgery as
well.

REPORTER: was it explained to you that this might
happen to you?

Adrian shakes head: No

The surgery reduces the stomach from about the
size of a nerf football to an egg-sized pouch and rearranges the intestine. Both
women ended up with a blocked intestine. And as a result Adrian had to sleep
sitting up for 6 months.

ADRIAN: the food couldn't, it wasn't going down
so it was just sitting there when I lay down. So I was afraid that one night I
would- you know - choke to death and no body would know it.

Dr Juarez and St Luke's tell us their
complication rate for gastric bypass is around 10 percent which is lower than
the national average. But for Delilah, Adrian and their families, that's not
much comfort.

DELILAH: [you think it's] like a little present
just wrapped up, as easy as can be - just pull the ribben and it's all done. And
you know it's so not like that. You're opening up Pandora's box right there and
you didn't even know it.

Note: At the seminar of Dr Juarez' I
attended, he spent less than 5 minutes on complications (I noted that in my
notes because that was about the least time spent in any of those seminars I had
attended). Dr Juarez did not mention at all, the common repercussion of
intestinal blockage which both these ladies suffer from. He also did not mention
at all, the common complication of pain which seems to occur in some patients, a
year or more after gastric bypass and is often unfixable without exploratory
surgery which of course, is extremely risky.